Too Much, Too Many Exposed Bellies

Lynn Yaeger writes about the proliferation of too bare naked ladies in the Village Voice

“Look down. If there is a naked, flaccid expanse between the top of your bottom and the bottom of your top, you are giving us a problem this season.
Not that the phenomenon of the exposed tummy is anything new. For several years now, this pudgy body part, once visible only in the bedroom or at seaside resorts, has been shamelessly gallivanting from boardrooms to red carpetss to funeral parlors—and we just can’t get used to it. Every time we see an exposed middle we are forced to wrestle anew with our feelings.

OK, first our visceral—or should we say gut—reaction: we hate this style. With the possible exception of your heinie crack, we can think of no other anatomical feature of yours we’d like to see less of. We think this fashion is gauche even when the wearer is nubile and the abdomen taut. And of course, nine times out of 10, the frisky blandisher is neither stunningly youthful or in perfect shape.

Still, on balance, nobody, not even us, wants to go back to the dark ages of corsets and hatpins and little white gloves. People in old photographs may look spiffy, but they were suffering.”